Finch: No school or clean streets until Friday

BRIDGEPORT — Mayor Bill Finch said he doesn’t expect to have all city streets cleared of snow until Friday, or maybe even later. Because of this, the mayor said he doubts the city can reopen many schools until late in the week.

“It’s going to take us a week to get all the streets cleaned,” said Finch, who was at the city’s Emergency Operations Center Sunday afternoon. “By Tuesday, the latest Wednesday, we’ll get the main streets and snow emergency streets.”

Secondary streets will follow and then the city will tackle small residential streets, cul-de-sacs and dead-end streets.

Finch said one of the biggest problems has been the large number of abandoned cars blocking city streets and forcing plows to waste time backing up out of a street. “They’ve reduced our efficientcy by 40 to 50 percent or more,” the mayor said. When cars are following the plow it’s even worse, the mayor said. Then police have to be called in to back everyone out safely so the plow can go on its way.

11 Responses

Oh lookie. No comments here. When they give out a plausible reason why the streets aren’t plowed (idiots who park their cars outside) no one wants to comment and blame the City anymore. Of course It’s always the city fault right? Why don’t you retards go outside and move your vehicles instead of posting crap here.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the fact that the City of Bridgeport agreed to handle (take over) the maintenance of all our schools. Now the geniuses who made such a move realize that they can’t handle the job. Bill Finch wanted the accountability and responsibility for our schools. Careful what you wish for.

While a certain amount of patience can reasonably be expected to clean up after one of the biggest snowstorms in our region’s history, this time frame is unacceptable. Four days to clear “snow emergency” streets??!! First, Mr. Finch, you declared a state of emergency, but many citizens AND YOU are acting like that is meaningless. For starters: Tow any and all cars abandoned on the streets. Ask the governor to authorize equipment and personnel from the National Guard. Ask the Governor to request help from crews (and equipment)from surrounding states that were not hit as hard as CT; with a Federal state of emergency declared this should be doable and affordable.

Unconscionable that it will take up to a week or more to clear the street. Why are cars allowed to follow the plows, why don’t the cops prohibit that from happening, why not have a prohibition of all private cars unless going to a specific class of job?